Problem in Syria

Taylor Sikora

Op-ed week 8

Syria needs our help.

In eastern Ghouta, Syria, since Sunday at least 300 people have died, and more than 60 of which were children. 1,400 people, at least, have been injured due to the pro-government forces, backed by Russia attacks. The Syrian military says it is trying to liberate the area from terrorists, but it has also been accused of targeting civilians. This past Sunday the pro-government forces intensified their efforts to retake the last major rebel held area. The bombs that were being dropped were filled with explosives and shrapnel. The Syrian military is claiming that they are carrying out “precision strikes” but with the death toll rising and a majority being civilians we see that their plan is not working. They targeted almost everything: shops, markets, hospitals, schools, mosques basically everything. With 14 medical facilities being taken out by the bombings there is an extreme need for medical services and facilities to help in the effort to treat all the wounded. Humanitarian aid is also not able to get in and the Syrian government has only allowed one humanitarian convoy into the Eastern Ghouta area since late November. Because of this, the residents are severely malnourished and are lacking aid.

Today, the International Committee of the Red Cross joined the UN and called for emergency humanitarian access to allow the much-needed aid to be delivered and for the wounded to be evacuated to safety for treatment. In some areas of Ghouta there are entire families with nowhere to go and on the other side of Easter Ghouta, in Damascus, people are in constant fear that their children will be hit by falling mortars. The UN has called for a ceasefire, and this line of attacks are the worst since 2013, when a chemical attack killed hundreds of Syrians. The UN has also called the areas where the Syrian government’s bombing campaign has destroyed “hell on earth”.

If Syria is now “hell on earth” and we know that Russia is backing the government and its campaign, why is no one doing anything about it? We can condemn Syria for their actions all we want but they still stand firm in their stance that they are fighting a war on terrorism and is not targeting citizens. There must be other ways for them to fight the war on terrorism that does not kill and injure so many civilians. But we are also talking about the government who used chemical weapons on its own people in 2013. Are we scared of confronting Syria in more direct ways because of their ally, Russia? These are two governments who have continued to murder their own citizens and deny their actions to the world community. Both regimes must be dealt with. The global community needs to come together to stop such atrocities. If we allow this to continue to happen, what does it make us? Cautious and conservative, or cowardly and weak?